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About a week before the primary election, all five Democratic contenders for governor co-hosted a fundraising event in honor of lieutenant governor nominee Debra Haaland, who was unopposed in the primary. Three of the candidates, including winner Gary King, were there in person; the others sent delegates. The theme was unity — agreeing before the primary that the losing candidates will unite behind the winner, and whoever wins will be happy to have Haaland as a running mate.
I have been looking for signs that the race for governor could be a fair fight. This is one.
Haaland will be a positive addition to the ticket. First, she’s Native American. She’s a member of Laguna Pueblo, and she works as tribal administrator of San Felipe Pueblo. Her ethnicity brings an element that’s new in a statewide race. Her presence can be expected to bring the Native American vote to the Democratic ticket. Perhaps she will attract Native American money. Maybe. At the unity event, speakers claimed she’s the first Native American nationally to run on a gubernatorial ticket.
Second, she’s an attractive candidate — graceful, personable, articulate and well spoken. She has a law degree from the University of New Mexico and a résumé that mixes private sector, tribal administration and political advocacy.

“Follow the money,” is the advice. Wander around the top levels of the state’s general appropriations act and you find people are the focus of state government. What the Legislative Finance Committee calls “recurring general fund appropriations,” the product of this year’s legislative session, is $6.16 billion for the budget year starting July 1, which is called Fiscal Year 15 or FY 15.
Our state government does people: kids through high school in the public schools, young adults (mostly) in colleges, and everyone with an emphasis on children in the broad array covered by health, hospitals and human services.
The numbers from the LFC’s “2014 Post-Session Review” show education (public schools, higher and other) with a $3.5 billion appropriation, or 58 percent of the general appropriation. The health function will get $1.6 billion. The combined percentage is 84 percent. The leftover 16 percent includes important functions, such as public safety ($393.9 million) and judicial ($218.6 million).
Transportation,­ as with the Department of Transportation, is the biggest function outside the general fund.

New Mexico lost 4,400 jobs from April 2013 through April 2014. We’re last in job growth.
So along comes Tesla Motors, dangling 6,000 jobs at its battery gigafactory like a canteen before a traveler lost in the desert. And New Mexico made the final cut!
We’re in the final four, with Arizona, Texas and Nevada. The governor attributes this to the bipartisan tax package passed last year. That’s not the whole story, but it’s a factor. Should Tesla smile on us, whiners on the right and the left will have to eat their words.
California is also fighting to be considered by moving legislation that would streamline regulation and permitting and offer incentives.
Looking at California’s hustle, two Democratic state senators last week blasted the governor for a perceived lack of action and for excluding the Legislature from discussions. The governor responded that a special session now would be a “political stunt.”
It’s an election year, so everything’s debatable, but our elected leaders have danced to and fro about what we ought to be doing for Tesla.

Heartworm disease is transmitted to an animal through the bite of a mosquito carrying heartworm larvae, which eventually settle into the blood vessels of the lungs or within the heart itself.
Although cats are less susceptible than dogs to heartworm infection, our feline friends are still very much at risk of heartworm disease.
“Cats have some innate resistance to infection, and the worms seem to prefer living in dogs rather than in cats,” said Dr. Audrey Cook, an associate professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “In addition, the tests we traditionally use in dogs, such as the Knotts test and heartworm antigen tests, are not very sensitive in cats as the number of worms is much lower.”
Cook explains that though more sensitive tests are now available, cats are still not routinely screened for infection. It is highly likely that many cats are infected, but are simply not identified.

The news media is being overwhelmed with accusations of “bad science” and “misinterpreted data” when dealing with the production and consumption of fossil-fuel/renewable/nuclear energy.
Since 1974, the autonomous International Energy Association (IEA), organization has worked diligently to generate unbiased reliable/affordable/conventional/renewable energy-related data for its member/cooperating-non-member countries. Between them the 30-plus member IEA countries account for just under half of the world’s energy generation/consumption and include United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Korean Republic, Spain and United Kingdom. Cooperating/nonmembers include Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Russia; just under the remaining half of global generation/consumption.
Its reports are utilized globally by all the major energy companies, academia and environmentalists.
At the IEA’s 2011/2013 Ministerial Meetings bilateral-work/data exchange programs were agreed with both IEA’s key and cooperating-nonmember countries.
The IEA’s mandates are to:
• Promote energy security amongst its member countries through collective response to physical disruptions in oil supply,

WIPP was never going to solve America’s nuclear waste problem. We have too much waste and too many kinds of waste to put into this one facility, New Mexico’s long-controversial Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. And even if you somehow believe geologic disposal is a great idea, there just aren’t enough locations with a prayer of sequestering the nasty stuff from the biosphere (or future human intrusion) to build dozens more WIPPs. Not to mention the trillions it would cost.
But if WIPP’s real purpose was to create the illusion that we’d found a solution — so we could keep on making more nuclear weapons and waste — then it has done a pretty good job of that, at least until this year’s accidents and on-going release.
Public relations has always been a big part of the WIPP story. Now it’s driving official Department of Energy responses to the recent events. Yup, they’re at it again.

Backyards are smoking with the embers of charcoals, the air filled with fumes of lighter fluid. Guys are outside wearing aprons saying, “#1 Dad” and “King of the Grill.”
Burnt toast and uncooked eggs served in bed. An avalanche of ugly ties. Toilet shaped beer mugs. Canned bacon spray. Caveman-feet slippers. SpongeBob golf club head covers.
Yeah, it’s Father’s Day again. Children all over the world enjoy dedicating a day to their favorite lounge chair burper.
Papa. Babbo. Tata. Vader. Otac. Banketi. Patri. Buwa. Daa. Patro. Otosan. Pabbi.
Wherever you are or however you say it, it’s the same in all languages across the world. Hey Dad, can I borrow the keys to the car?
Here in America, Father’s Day is a time for men do what they do best — set things on fire and tell bad jokes while knocking down a few cold ones. Norman Rockwell images capture the spirit of our country’s dads; fathers carving the Thanksgiving turkeys, guys chewing the fat in a barber’s shop, teaching their son how to catch a baseball.

Owning your own home is part of the American dream. For 65 years, USDA has helped millions of rural residents achieve the dream of homeownership through our affordable home loan programs. This year, USDA Rural Development has helped nearly 3.4 million rural families and individuals become homebuyers through 65 years of delivering housing assistance.
Affordable home financing creates ladders of opportunity to help families grow and thrive. Every year, USDA Rural Development’s direct and guaranteed home loans help tens of thousands of rural residents become homeowners.
Here in New Mexico since the start of the Obama Administration, USDA Rural Development has made direct or guaranteed loans for more than 10,000 rural residents.
For example, 21-year old Marianna Wheeler of Deming, and her 3-year-old son, Gilbert Ray became two of those 10,000 homeowners after they moved into a new home which was made possible through USDA’s Rural Development Direct Home loan program.
We also provide a home repair loan program, and grants for very-low-income seniors, to help homeowners protect and preserve their most precious asset.

No one likes to feel hustled while shopping, whether it’s in a retail store or trade show booth.
To attract customers without brazen hawking or downright pushiness, businesses need to refine the art of the soft sell. That begins by making the store or trade show booth an intentional destination for people who are truly interested in what the business sells.
Relationship skills
While any business would like to sell at least one product to every person who walks in the door, that’s the type of unrealistic goal that can turn sales reps into apex predators.
A long-term perspective toward potential customers focuses on developing a relationship that lasts longer than one transaction. It lays a foundation through attraction rather than persuasion.
A retailer might begin with an irresistible offer that draws customers into a store — say, 20 percent off on purchases over $100 or one-day-only sales on a hot-selling product.
A trade-show vendor might offer freebies to customers in return for contact information. Some vendors create a sense of urgency by offering something of value to the first 20 customers who sign up. A startup financial planner, for example, could offer a 15-minute consultation to the first 15 visitors as a way to build a client base.
The light touch

In May 30 Los Alamos Monitor, Mr. John Pawlak made the following statements in his column about the leader of the NRA and about NRA members:
“Enter one of the strangest and most annoying grapes, Wayne LaPierre, spokesperson for those who can’t muster enough hatred and stupidity on their own, and so they hire someone to do it for them.”
“He (Wayne LaPierre) doesn’t have enough of a brain stem to support a headache.”
“The logic used by LaPierre and his ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ followers is mind numbing.”
“So, just how moronic can the NRA get?”
“LaPierre and his card-carrying ditto-heads would say, “The only thing that stops a bad 3-year-old with a gun is a good 1-year-old with a gun!”
“The more I think about it, the more attractive tongue-chewing sounds to me. Maybe we can get LaPierre and his “I have the right to shoot people” gun-nuts to chew theirs?”
I am an NRA member, but I don’t harbor hatred and I am not stupid. I don’t shoot first and ask questions later. I am not a moron. I am not a ditto-head. I don’t have the right to shoot people. I am not a gun nut.